DATE=2/17/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA-US (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259255
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO:   Top officials from China and the United 
States have resumed a bilateral dialogue on strategic 
security issues that was cut off by Beijing after NATO 
unintentionally bombed the Chinese embassy in 
Yugoslavia last May.  VOA correspondent Roger Wilkison 
reports from Beijing, China's main concern in the two-
day talks is what it sees as U-S support for Taiwan. 


TEXT:  Deputy U-S Secretary of State Strobe Talbott 
and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held 
their first session Thursday afternoon in Beijing.

Neither the Chinese Foreign Ministry nor the U-S 
Embassy would provide details on the meeting, except 
to say that they covered security issues.  On Tuesday, 
a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Beijing, during the 
talks, would raise U-S arms sales to Taiwan and 
Washington's plans to build an anti-missile defense 
shield.

China is worried that Washington, especially Congress, 
is planning to sell Taiwan advanced weaponry that will 
undermine threats of force from Beijing and make it 
easier for the island to resist Chinese overtures for 
reunification.  China regards Taiwan as a rebel 
province that must be reunited with the mainland.

Still, China seems to be casting a positive spin on 
the Talbott-Yang meeting.  Foreign Ministry spokesman 
Zhu Bangzao -- speaking through an interpreter -- says 
it should be seen as another sign of improving 
relations between the two countries, since the 
downturn that followed last year's embassy bombing.

            /////INTERPRETER ACTUALITY/////

Last year, for reasons known to all, China-U-S 
relations experienced a rather big up-and-down, and 
thanks to joint efforts by the leaders of the two 
countries and the two governments, China-U-S relations 
have gradually moved back to the track of restoration 
and development.

            /////END ACTUALITY/////

But despite the positive spin, Mr. Zhu insisted that 
China wants the U-S administration to fulfill a pledge 
to prevent a pro-Taiwan bill, recently passed by the 
House of Representatives, from being enacted.  The 
legislation would increase military contacts between 
Washington and the island.  China says it would 
provide a legal basis for U-S sales of sophisticated 
weapons to Taiwan.  A similar bill is being discussed 
in the Senate.  But President Clinton has promised to 
veto any such legislation.

NEB/RW/FC 



17-Feb-2000 06:10 AM EDT (17-Feb-2000 1110 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.